Tuesday, March 2, 2010

You've Got to Shop Around

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Regular readers of More of Les (yes, there are a few of you -- thanks!) may have noticed that this blog recently began including links to Amazon products. Rest assured that this wasn't a hostile takeover.

I had been doing some work related to affiliate marketing, so when the great folks at Google Blogger (this blog's host -- see my full disclosure here) informed me that I could now become an Amazon Associate, I jumped at the opportunity to experience this lucrative world firsthand.

I'd also be providing a service for my readers. After all, each More of Les post is required to include one or more audio or video clips (seriously, it's in my contract!), but the selections often go unidentified (hey, I really have no desire to appear in search results for, let's say, rabid fans of the song featured in my previous posting). So the Amazon links would serve not only to reveal titles and performers, but also allow you, if it's your desire, to purchase and keep your own copies of the featured selection.

So if you buy a particular song for 99 cents from the related Amazon ad, I get a miniscule portion of that hefty price. I've previously elaborated on all the nickels I can earn from Google Adsense, which provides the other ads surrounding this prose, so the extra Amazon income would be like icing on the cake!

Alas, Amazon has noticed that none of you have yet to make any purchases. They've sent me an email, its subject line imploring me to "Start Making Money" with a few suggestions of "quick and easy steps" to improve my sales.

For example, I can add one of several Amazon widgets to the blog or even turn the entire thing into an Amazon store!

Frankly, I think the More of Les site is already a mite cluttered, packed with everything from video and audio widgets (with Hulu and Dizzler providing fine services respectively) to my Twitter feed, your comments, and those aforementioned Adsense ads all over the place,

So no, More of Les won't become an Amazon store portal. Plenty of deserving non-profits (i.e., my favorite radio station, WFUV) will happily take a cut of your purchase price on any item if you would just access Amazon through them. That's how I'd suggest you do your shopping, after checking out comparison shopping tools, of course.

Today, when even yours truly is a seller, it's more important than ever for buyers to shop around. Oh yes, for this post, I deliberately selected a version of the Smokey Robinson classic, Shop Around, that's not available from Amazon. So there's no ad down below identifying the artist and asking for your 99 cents.

But, as a lover of promotional marketing, I'm going to use this as an excuse to run my first contest! The first reader to correctly identify the artist not only proves his or her Internet deduction skills, but wins a specially selected audio or video prize -- and becomes the first More of Les affiliate partner!